The GQ+A: Jou-Yie Chou of Public-Supply Talks Notebooks, Giving Back, and Good Design

Jou-Yie Chou knows what it takes to make a brand not just successful, but culturally relevant. Knowing what’s cool and what works business-wise is the precise reason Chou helped make the Ace Hotel what it is today. He only recently left a gig as the Ace’s brand director to become a partner at Studio Tack, a multi-disciplinary design group whose projects include the notable Public-Supply, a brand that makes notebooks and pencils (for now) that benefit arts education.

Their goal is to be as transparent as possible, so each product purchased contains a stamp with the classroom number and order number that lets you see how what you bought gave back to the community. Since its launch in July 2013, Public-Supply has reached 4,249 students. We stopped by Studio Tack’s office in DUMBO, Brooklyn and talked to Chou about Public-Supply, the classrooms it helps, and the resurgence of well-designed notebooks and writing instruments.

GQ: You were sort of the cultural point-man for the Ace Hotel for a while. How did you get involved with Public-Supply?

Chou: I was the brand director at the Ace Hotel for five years. I recently left to work for a company called Studio Tack. We do various things, but one of the projects we’re involved in is Public-Supply. We’re heavily involved in the design of the products, and then there are two other partners outside.

GQ: So the original partners came to you guys with the idea of something with a noble cause?

Chou: The original founders came to us because they wanted to create something related to the arts. They wanted to make a beautiful product that spoke to the idea of inspiration, creativity, and how we become inspired.

GQ: Seems like the mission to give back was always there, but when it came to reconciling that with the aesthetic aspect, with good design, how did you arrive at notebooks?

Chou: It was a concept that spawned out of sitting around and thinking about something that’s both useful and has a philanthropic and charitable aspect to it. Sort of your triple bottom line. We thought notebooks were a great way to start, and we plan on expanding the product range down the line.

GQ: How long did it take you to settle on the notebook’s final design?

Chou: As far as the initial design, we wanted to create a beautiful notebook that’s a very versatile size. We had a couple of earlier iterations that were thinner with less pages. We decided on the dot paper—which we designed—because it’s sort of in between graph paper, lines, and you can still sketch. We decided to start with classic, bold colors: red, blue, and black. These are basics that will always be in production, but there are some patterned ones that we began to roll out. We’ll do small runs of those before we retire those designs.

To date, most of those are done in-house, but we’re slowly going to start working and collaborating with different artists. We actually had our first collaboration come out recently, and that’s in partnership with Haas & Hahn and their Back to Rio project called the Favela Painting. With that partnership in particular, they gave us the rights to use the artwork and in turn we’re donating 100 percent of the profits back to the charity. In general, our gifting is meant to be 25% of our profits, but in the holiday spirit we’re giving away 100% of our profits to charity, and we have free shipping on all domestic orders until the end of the year.

GQ: Why do you think there’s this resurgence in interest in these sorts designer notebooks as of late?

Chou: I think they’re still used a lot in the face of technology. Whether you’re working on your iPad or MacBook, there’s still a need to write, draw, and doodle. It’s probably still the quickest way to express an idea and keep record of thoughts. There’s a tangibility there that still isn’t really replicated through the goods that we have or the digital technology that we carry on a regular basis.

GQ: Why did you guys start with pencils instead of pens? Are there more writing instruments coming out in the future?

Chou: I think that pens and pencils go hand-in-hand with the notebooks. Since we do the charitable component goes back to art and music classrooms in public schools, the idea to have pencils initially go with the notebooks makes sense. And down the line we’ll expand that, whether it’s pencil holders, or we’ve talked about doing clipboards, and other various things that are useful in a creative way. But we’ll always make sure the art is constantly connected to this idea of well-designed stationery and creative arts in schools.

GQ: How has the reception to Public-Supply been so far?

Chou: The idea came about a little over a year ago, but we’ve been selling since July. It’s been a slow burn since then, our sales aren’t huge, but the idea is to continue to grow that and make some impact in the school systems.

GQ: But it seems like you guys already have great placement at hotspots like Harry’s Corner Shop and similar places.

Chou: Yeah, it’s been really well received by interesting retailers. We’re also doing some larger custom editions—one is with the Institute of Contemporary Art up in Boston. In addition to having an outward presence through retail, were working with corporate clients and larger businesses who can really make an impact by ordering larger quantities, like Facebook. So we’re working with some corporations to make beautiful stationery for their own internal use.

GQ: Ideally what would you like this to turn into? What would be your dream for Public-Supply?

**Chou:**I think for us, we would want our bottom line to continue to grow and for us to continue to make some quality supplies that sell enough to make a small impact towards getting supplies for these creative-minded classrooms. I think what we’d like to accomplish—and we’re trying to do our part— is bring attention to the issue. The statistic is that between 2006-2012, the funding for art supplies in public schools has dropped about 85%, so we’re trying to bring attention to that and hopefully provide some value and support for those classrooms.